Spurs v Villa Post-Match Thread

[supertom]

so you take Grealish out and replace him with a standard midfielder thus taking every last shred of creativity out of the side,
 whether he uses it every match or not he's all there was out there today,
then we really are the workman like difficult to beat team that has no inspiration apart from grinding out results week after week

sorry but you got to have some semblance of attack mindedness especially when playing in our own league

Well no, in an ideal world you have someone who works and creates, but my point is, if Jack isn't scoring or creating, what's the point of him? Okay I'm thinking more so of a game like today. If we had someone like Reo-Coker we may as well have played him there and effect the game defensively. As it is of course we're short of willing and able cart horses. We've got Jedi and he's 57.
Robbie Brady as an example works hard, but he'll make chances too.
Not too many successful championship sides will carry a luxury like Grealish or Ayew for example. Sometimes a bit of ordinary, maybe a tad boring 7/10 every week will take you further.

Adomah is the only player we have who creates. Which is why we're struggling. 

you see I think Albert flatters to deceive, I would much prefer Grealish,
maybe today's game was difficult but without him you really would have been parking the bus in true Pulis style

One thing with Albert is, he's inconsistent and won't impact things throughout the game, but even if he's not playing brilliant he still puts in a shift and still delivers balls into the box. I think he's our clear leader as far as assists go. Seems to have a good understanding with Kodjia, and so I wonder if his productivity may be affected by Kodjia being away. Plus as far as Albert goes he's easier to fit in the side. Plonk him on the right wing.
We have no idea where to play Grealish as he's not really nailed down any spot, be it left wing, LCM, or as Timmy loved to say "the no 10."
I can't think of too many fancy dans who excel in the Championship. Just using our old boy Pete Whittingham for example. He's excelled in the championship over the years. Good delivery. He's got a bit of ability. Scores, creates, puts in a shift. He's pretty ordinary as it goes, and that becomes all the more clear when you watched him in the Premier League after Cardiff went up.

In recent memory I can think of Adel Tarrabt. Complete show pony. He did tear the championship up. QPR had to revolve their entire side around him though. When you do that, sometimes it comes off, but more often than not it won't.

[PaulWinch again]

so you take Grealish out and replace him with a standard midfielder thus taking every last shred of creativity out of the side,
 whether he uses it every match or not he's all there was out there today,
then we really are the workman like difficult to beat team that has no inspiration apart from grinding out results week after week

sorry but you got to have some semblance of attack mindedness especially when playing in our own league

Well no, in an ideal world you have someone who works and creates, but my point is, if Jack isn't scoring or creating, what's the point of him? Okay I'm thinking more so of a game like today. If we had someone like Reo-Coker we may as well have played him there and effect the game defensively. As it is of course we're short of willing and able cart horses. We've got Jedi and he's 57.
Robbie Brady as an example works hard, but he'll make chances too.
Not too many successful championship sides will carry a luxury like Grealish or Ayew for example. Sometimes a bit of ordinary, maybe a tad boring 7/10 every week will take you further.

Adomah is the only player we have who creates. Which is why we're struggling. 

you see I think Albert flatters to deceive, I would much prefer Grealish,
maybe today's game was difficult but without him you really would have been parking the bus in true Pulis style

I think Adomah offers much more than Jack, especially given Jack appears to be given more licence. Jack has a lot of talent, but he's a bit aimless and needs to become much more effective.

[Pete3206]

Pleased that people are waking up to the fact that Danny Murphy is not actually an intelligent, astute, erudite philosopher of the beautiful game, but seeing him as the tedious, spiteful, no-nothing prick that he actually is.

Re: the negative Gabby comments, fair enough, but I thought he did well foraging on his own up front and he was a damn site more effective than McCormack, who was absolutely diabolical when he came on. I thought it would have been better to leave Gabby on with Davis and Green up front. Those free kicks - dear oh dear.

 

[andyh]

Of course we didn't get battered, but it was pretty much a typical Aston Villa performance from the last few years.

Lots of fart but no sign of a shit.

[Sexual Ealing]

If we're going to play Grealish (and I think we should) we have to accept that sometimes the stuff he tries won't come off and he'll end up looking a bit stupid. In a side like ours that doesn't create much, he's worth his place for the fouls he draws.

[PaulWinch again]

Of course we didn't get battered, but it was pretty much a typical Aston Villa performance from the last few years.

Lots of fart but no sign of a shit.

Disagree it was a lot more solid than past few years.

[QuintonVilla]

I've nothing against players talking to opposition players or having a joke with them, but when Grealish was laughing and joking with Alli at half time I did smile to myself. Grealish was talking to him like they were best mates and on the same level, the reality is Alli will be world class in a couple of years whereas Grealish is pretty shit. We're an average side and he doesn't even stand out in it, even against mediocre opposition in the Championship he just doesn't do anything.

[Pat McMahon]

I thought we were very dull - set up not to lose heavily but offered no real threat and once we fell behind defeat was inevitable. Spurs never needed to get going - and their crowd were in the same half asleep mode. Johnstone impressed me but I was perplexed by how frequently Adomah and Bacuna's were defending behind Hutton and Armavi ( who had a below par game today). Not for a moment did I feel we would get anything out of this match.

Some twattish behaviour from younger Villa fans in the Haringey Irish centre pre match - knocking tables over and chucking plastic glasses around.  I felt like a warden in the cafeteria scene in Scum. Hope they have us back in the future though.

[saunders_heroes]

Predictable defeat but I thought the scoreline flattered them a bit. Not so long ago we were their equals but after Lerner's sabotage we looked like exactly what we are, a championship club. Saying that though I thought we battled well and there's a decent team in there somewhere. We have to buy well this month and you never know because the Play-Offs are still getable. The Grealish criticisms are a bit harsh though, he's still young and up and down. Stick with him because he's a star in the making. Thought Gabby did okay as well considering the lack of support.
Onwards and upwards and all that...

[saunders_heroes]

Oh and I thought our new goalie looked the bees knees. A cut above any other keeper we've got that for sure.

[Toronto Villa]

Sam Johnstone looked very assured. Big and commanding. Didn't panic in what would have been a very big game for him.

[Des Little]

Let's be honest - by playing Gabby, Bruce settled for the 0. He just isn't very good. That said, we only really flirted with attacking. Best team won and we go again (winky thing)

[hipkiss92]

I've nothing against players talking to opposition players or having a joke with them, but when Grealish was laughing and joking with Alli at half time I did smile to myself. Grealish was talking to him like they were best mates and on the same level, the reality is Alli will be world class in a couple of years whereas Grealish is pretty shit. We're an average side and he doesn't even stand out in it, even against mediocre opposition in the Championship he just doesn't do anything.

Compare how quickly Spurs move the ball in attack to how slow Grealish is to move it off or drive at goal when he picks it up and it shows how far he needs to go to even reach the level of what was essentially a Spurs XI

[brontebilly]

the first half was the most disciplined performance I've seen from Villa in a long time everyone played a part. Grealish lacks a yard of pace and he gets caught against better opposition he seems to slow the game down. If Bruce can get the forward line to perform as good as the defence we will be a good side.

Grealish can do some great things, bought a very clever yellow from one of the Spurs defenders near the end with an excellent quick turn. But...there are a lot of buts with Grealish

1) his crosses today were worse than Hutton's, constantly blocked by the first defender, technically he cant seem to curl the ball with pace at all
2) his upper body strength is nowhere near good enough, ball taken off him regularly in close contact today
3) holds onto the ball too long, a bad habit Ross Barkley has aswell
4) his workrate without the ball and general discipline on the pitch is very very poor, Grealish isnt a good enough player and Villa arent a good enough team to tolerate it
5) he doesnt influence the game at all to be honest when played centrally, its only on the left or on the bench

[brontebilly]

Oh and I thought our new goalie looked the bees knees. A cut above any other keeper we've got that for sure.

only saw one replay but his footwork seemed poor for their goal?

a physical presence anyway and sharp off his line